We ask you, brothers and sisters,
with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our assembling with him, not to be shaken out of your minds suddenly, or to be alarmed either by a “spirit,” or by an oral statement, or by a letter allegedly from us to the effect that the day of the Lord is at hand.
Let no one deceive you in any way.
I remember a lot more concern about "the end of the world" during the closing days of the twentieth century. A nuclear war might human life, and perhaps all life, to an abrupt and sorry end. It would be a bang, very loud, and not a whimper.
Although more nations now have nuclear weapons, and their use remains virtually certain, I hear less concern about such a catastrophic end. The more alarming threat today is the displacement of billions of people due to climate change. Some might argue its causes but no one can say it's not happening; and with it comes innumerable disruptions to everything that seems normal. The world as we knew it ended some time ago; and the world as we know it remains unknown and unexplored.
During the first century of the Christian Era, Jews and their Christian heirs had a religious expectation that God's reign would soon overthrow the Pax Romana. For as long as anyone could remember, and as far as anyone could see, Rome was the center of an enormous empire. If there was turbulence at its extremities, it didn't concern most people and they were content with the way things were. If some Jewish radicals in Galilee plotted against Rome and its armies, they could be destroyed -- and were in the second century.
But Jews and Christians remembered the promise of God's kingdom; they would not surrender that hope to the way things are. There is surely a better way; life as we know it is not what God intended. Sometimes, our discontent and expectation become so intense, we think God must certainly intervene now. And he does. But we're distracted and fail to notice it.
On the road to Jerusalem the disciples repeatedly heard Jesus's prophecies about the eruption that would occur when they arrived. He would be arrested, tried, and crucified; and would be raised on the third day. But they would not hear it. Even with his appearances afterwards they struggled to believe it.
Although they had followed him since the day they left their homes, effectively giving him their lives like so many blank checks, they struggled with this new Event. It was too deep, too difficult, and too challenging to everything they knew and believed.
Only in retrospect, with the writings of the Evangelists, did it begin to make sense. The Divine Biographers told Jesus's story with many passages from the Jewish scriptures, the same passages he had so often cited. And then his virginal conception and birth in Bethlehem, his struggle, suffering, death, and resurrection, and his commission of disciples as missionaries finally made sense.
The world had ended and a new world had been born from the tomb outside Jerusalem. The World as we know it has ended. Welcome to God's kingdom. It is within you.
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I love to write. This blog helps me to meditate on the Word of God, and I hope to make some contribution to our contemplations of God's Mighty Works.
Ordinarily, I write these reflections two or three weeks in advance of their publication. I do not intend to comment on current events.
I understand many people prefer gender-neutral references to "God." I don't disagree with them but find that language impersonal, unappealing and tasteless. When I refer to "God" I think of the One whom Jesus called "Abba" and "Father", and I would not attempt to improve on Jesus' language.
You're welcome to add a thought or raise a question.